T-Mobile Moves to Simplify its Phone Billing by Offering a Single ‘Unlimited’ Plan

T-Mobile held an “Un-carrier Next” event at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday, hosted by company CEO, John Legere. The bombastic head of the wireless firm took the opportunity to announce that Magenta Carrier will only offer its unlimited T-Mobile One plan going forward.

T-Mobile US President and CEO John Legere at CES on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2017, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/AP Images for T-Mobile)

While existing customers can keep their current plan if they so choose, new customers will only be able to purchase the $70 T-Mobile One plan, which offers unlimited data, calling, and texting. The company will also offer a “KickBack” program, which will give customers a $10 bill credit for each phone line that uses 2GB of data or less, beginning January 22.

The carrier will also eliminate taxes, surcharges, access fees, and other additional charges, including them in the T-Mobile One plan monthly fee, which will not change from the current $70. Families can take advantage of the plan, with each line costing $0 per user for a family of four. (As usual, there’s a bit of common core math involved, as it is $70 for the first line, $50 for the second line, and $20 for each additional line.)

As always, there are some conditions. Autopay is required to take advantage of the deal, and customers who use more than 28GB per month may see reduced data speeds until their next billing cycle begins. Also, video streaming is limited to 480p, and tethering will be limited to 3G speeds. Customers who require better quality video streaming and tethering can upgrade to T-Mobile One Plus, which will cost an extra $15 per month.

“Wireless consumers pay Billions extra every year in added surcharges, taxes, monthly fees and carrier price hikes. It’s reached epidemic proportions! And, the carriers just keep inventing new ways to make their customers pay. So, the Un-carrier’s putting an end to it,” said Legere. “Today, with Un-carrier Next, we’re laying down New Rules for the Mobile Internet, and with T-Mobile ONE, we’re creating the first unlimited subscription to the Mobile Internet that works for absolutely everyone.”

CEO Legere listed the “rules” T-Mobile will adhere to in 2017:

What You See Should Be What You Pay

You Shouldn’t Have to Pay for What You Don’t Use

Only YOU Should Have the Power to Change What You Pay

The Mobile Internet Shouldn’t Be Sold by Bits & Bytes

The company also announced a new “Tax Rebate” promotion, where every new customer that switches from another carrier will receive a $150 gift card. No device trade-in is required. Customers will receive a gift card for every line they transfer. So, the proverbial family of four would receive $600 in gift cards.

The Magenta LTE network will continue to build out during 2017, and the company expects to have LTE service available to 320 million at the end of the year. The company claims that will put its LTE availability on par with Verizon.